More than 1,300 people, including more than 700 foreign nationals, are missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet region after a huge collapse of mud and rock into a Himalayan river triggered catastrophic flooding across local towns and valleys, authorities have said.
Nepalese police and tourism officials confirmed on Thursday that more than 500 foreigners were among 823 people missing in Nepal. Police added that they expected the confirmed death toll to rise significantly past 177. “This will go up, as we have resumed the search and more bodies are expected to be recovered,” police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle said.
Among the missing tourists from more than two dozen countries, 177 are from India, 63 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from the United Kingdom, and 25 from Canada.
Across the border in Tibet’s Gyirong county, 558 people are reported missing, including 260 foreign nationals, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Rescuers in Nepal have deployed helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands of people cut off in a rugged mountainous area popular with trekkers and pilgrims travelling between Lhasa in Tibet and the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
Video footage verified by news agencies showed rapid torrents of water and debris sweeping away dozens of people at a border crossing in Gyirong, while downstream in Nepal, homes, roads, and power infrastructure were destroyed.
Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said helicopters were dropping tents, food and medicine provided by neighbouring India into the hardest-hit districts. More than 5,000 army and police rescue personnel joined the rescue effort, which retrieved 125 people on Thursday, including 20 foreigners, he said.
